Haiti - History

In 1492, Christopher Columbus made the European discovery of the island
of Hispaniola and established a settlement near the present city of
Cap-Haïtien. Within 25 years, the native Arawak, a peace-loving,
agricultural people, were virtually annihilated by the Spanish settlers.
Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas, a missionary to the Amerindians,
who had originally come to Hispaniola as a planter in 1502, proposed
that African slaves be imported for plantation labor. Some time after
1517, a forced migration of Africans gave Haiti its black population.

About 1625, French and English privateers and buccaneers, preying on
Spanish Caribbean shipping, made the small island of Tortuga their base.
The French soon also established a colonial presence on nearby mainland
coasts and competed with the Spaniards. In the Treaty of Ryswick (1697),
Spain ceded the western third of the island (Haiti) to the French. Under
French rule it became one of the wealthiest of the Caribbean
communities. This prosperity, stemming from forestry and sugar-related
industries, came at a heavy cost in human misery and environmental
degradation.

The French Revolution in 1789 outlawed slavery in France, which inspired
Haiti's nearly half million black slaves to revolt. In a series
of violent uprisings, slaves killed white planters and razed estates.
Although they suffered cruel reprisals, they fought on under the
direction of Toussaint L'Ouverture, an ex-slave who had risen to
the rank of general in the French army. By 1801 Toussaint controlled the
entire island, and promulgated a constitution, which abolished slavery.
The emperor Napoleon did not accept this move, and sent 70 warships and
25,000 men to suppress the movement. Toussaint was captured, and died in
a French prison.

Jean Jacques Dessalines, another black general risen from the ranks,
continued the struggle, and in 1803, the disease-decimated French army
surrendered. On 1 January 1804, Dessalines proclaimed Haiti's
independence. Dessalines, after assuming the title of emperor in 1804,
was assassinated in 1806, and Haiti was divided into a northern monarchy
and a southern republic. Under both regimes, the plantations were
distributed among former slaves, and Haiti became a nation of small
farmers. Haiti was reunited by Jean Pierre Boyer in 1820, and in 1822
the Haitian army conquered Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic).
For 22 years there was one republic for the entire island. In 1844,
however, one year after Boyer was overthrown, the Dominican Republic
proclaimed its independence from Haiti. In 1849, the president of Haiti,
Faustin Elie Soulouque, proclaimed himself Emperor Faustin I. He was
dethroned by a revolution headed by Nicholas Fabre Geffrard, who
reestablished the republic and became president. In 1860, Geffrard
negotiated a concordat with the Holy See that established Roman
Catholicism as the national religion, although freedom of worship was
retained.

A long period of political instability between 1843 and 1915, during
which time Haiti had 22 dictators, culminated in the assassination of
President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam and was followed by US military
occupation. The occupation, which lasted 19 years, terminated in 1934
during the administration of President Sténio Vincent
(1930–41), who in 1935 proclaimed a new constitution.

After World War II, another period of political instability culminated
in a 1950 coup d'etat that brought Gen. Paul Magloire to power.
Magloire's economic policies led to a serious depression. In
December 1956 a national sit-down strike, organized jointly by business,
labor, and professional leaders, forced Magloire into exile. A period of
chaos ensued, with seven governments trying to establish control.

In a September 1957 election filled with irregularities François
Duvalier, a middle-class black physician known to his followers as Papa
Doc, became president. He began to rule by decree in 1958, and in May
1961, he had himself elected for another six years. On 22 June 1964,
Duvalier was formally elected president for life. Despite several
attempted revolts, he consolidated his position, ruling largely through
his security force, the Tontons Macoutes ("bogeymen").
Political opposition was ruthlessly suppressed, and thousands of
suspected dissidents "disappeared." Also murdered were
some 3,000 supporters of Daniel Fignolé, leader of the Peasant
Workers Movement (Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan) and Duvalier's most
effective opponent.

Political life under the Papa Doc regime was characterized by plots
against the government and governmental counterterrorism, the latter
entrusted to the Tontons Macoutes and to other thugs known as
cagoulards. Opposition leaders went into hiding or exile. The Haitian
Revolutionary Movement (Mouvement Révolutionnaire
Haïtien), led by Haitian exiles Luc B. Innocent and Paul G.
Argelin, began operations in Colombia in February 1961.

The National Democratic Union (Union Démocratique Nationale) was
founded in Puerto Rico in April 1962 by former Ambassador Pierre Rigaud,
with a branch in Venezuela organized by Paul Verna and an underground
movement operating in Haiti. Invasions in 1964, 1969, and 1970 met with
no success. Haitian exiles in New York, Montreal, Chicago, and
Washington mounted an influential anti-Duvalier campaign during the
1960s. Throughout this period, no party operated openly in Haiti except
the Duvalierist Party of National Unity (Parti de l'Unité
Nationale).

On 22 January 1971, Duvalier named his son Jean-Claude as his successor.
Papa Doc died on 21 April 1971, and Jean-Claude, at the age of 19,
became president for life the following day. The younger Duvalier sought
to ease political tensions, encouraged tourism and foreign investment,
and contributed to the beginnings of an economic revival. However,
political arrests did not wholly cease, and there were severe economic
reverses in the mid-and late-1970s.

In February 1979, elections to the National Assembly took place amid
allegations of government fraud. Opposition groups were then arrested,
tried, and convicted of subversion, but later released. In January and
March 1982, two small exile groups tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the
government by staging armed invasions. The first municipal elections of
the Duvalier period were held in spring 1983. The voting resulted, for
the most part, in victories for the government, partly because several
opposition figures had been arrested during the campaign.

Jean-Claude proved to be an ineffectual leader and tensions mounted as
the economy stagnated after 1980. When civil disorder began to break out
in the mid-1980s, the president became increasingly reclusive. In
February 1986, following a series of demonstrations and protests,
Jean-Claude and his family fled to France, and the National Governing
Council (Conseil National de Gouvernement—CNG), led by Lt.-Gen.
Henri Namphy, seized power.

Hopes for the restoration of democracy soon faded. The presidential
election scheduled for November 1987 was postponed as gangs of thugs and
soldiers killed at least 34 persons. The CNG attempted new elections and
a new government, but those governments had no legitimacy at home or
abroad. In December 1990 a Roman Catholic priest, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, was elected with 67.5% of the votes cast. The immediate
aftermath of the CNG's takeover was euphoric. Political prisoners
were released and the dreaded Tontons Macoute, Duvalier's
clandestine secret police, were disbanded. Namphy's declared
purpose was to provide a transition to a democratically elected
government. A constituent assembly, convened in October 1986, drafted a
new constitution that was approved by referendum in March 1987.

Aristide had an ideology, a sort of egalitarian Catholic doctrine, and a
political coalition of 15 parties, the National Front for Change and
Democracy (FNCD), but he did not have the confidence of the military.
Upset by his popularity and his foreign policy, which favored stronger
hemispheric relations at the expense of US-Haitian relations, the
military under General Raoul Cédras ousted him in October 1991.
From exile, Aristide did not relent, and appealed to international
organizations for help. The UN and OAS forged an agreement between
Cédras and Aristide that was to return Aristide to the presidency
in October 1993, but the military balked. Aristide promptly appealed to
the Clinton administration, even as he criticized US policy, and the
Clinton administration responded with sanctions against the Haitian
regime in May and June of 1994. However, the impasse persisted.

In September 1994, as a last resort, the Clinton administration secured
international support for a military invasion of Haiti to force
Cédras from power. A US invasion force was assembled and war
seemed imminent. However, at the 11th hour, Clinton sent a special
delegation, headed by former US president Jimmy Carter, to negotiate a
peaceful solution to the crisis. As US fighter planes were about to take
off for Haiti, the Carter team reached an agreement with Cédras
and war was diverted. American forces peacefully took control of the
country and, in October 1994, restored Aristide to power.

Returning to the country after a three-year absence, Aristide faced two
major challenges: rescuing the country's economy, which was in
dire straits following the international embargo that had been imposed
on it, and curbing the rampant violent street crime, gang activity, and
vigilantism that had developed in the absence of an adequate justice
system. To cope with the security vacuum created by the departure of the
military regime, UN peacekeeping forces arrived in March of 1995.

In June 1995, elections for local and legislative office, although
marred by mismanagement and requiring additional rounds of voting,
remained free of state-sponsored violence and were generally regarded as
a sign of success for the nation's fledgling democracy. Although
there was strong sentiment among many Haitians in favor of having
Aristide remain in office beyond the end of his designated single term
as president (most of which had been usurped by military rule), US
support remained contingent on adhering to the terms of the 1987
constitution, which barred the president from seeking a second
consecutive term. Aristide himself wavered about honoring this provision
but ultimately stepped down, endorsing a close associate, René
Préval, to succeed him in office. Préval was elected on 17
December 1995, with 88% of the vote. In February 1996 he took office,
becoming Haiti's second democratically elected president in the
country's 191-year history as an independent nation. The presence
of both a UN peacekeeping force of over 1,000 and several hundred US
troops was extended through November 1997. In July 1997 Haiti became a
member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Even under relatively stable political conditions, Haiti's
economic and security problems proved intractable. Poverty and
unemployment—estimated at 80%—remained endemic. In May
1996 Préval agreed to economic reforms demanded by the
International Monetary Fund, including privatization of state-owned
enterprises, a measure previously resisted by his government. However,
former president Aristide opposed the privatization plans and in 1997
formed a new political grouping of his own. After failing to win
parliamentary approval for three nominees for prime minister in 1998,
President Préval dissolved parliament in January 1999 and
unilaterally appointed a new prime minister, provoking civil unrest in
the streets. Through the rest of 1999 and into early 2000, Préval
repeatedly postponed promised legislative elections, leaving the country
without a fully operating government. A wave of violence escalted and
eventually claimed the life of the country's most prominent radio
journalist, Jean Leopold Dominique, who was murdered in April 2000.

In the presidential election held in November 2000, former president
Aristide easily won the election with 91.8% of the vote. His party, the
Fanmi Lavalas (FL—Lavalas Family), captured 83 of the 93 seats in
the National Assembly. Since taking office in early 2001, Aristide has
been accused of developing a highly personalist and authoritarian
government. He has concentrated power in his own hands and has failed to
build and consolidate democratic institutions. The economy continued its
downward spiral, with negative growth in 2001 and 2002 and more than 80%
of Haitians living in poverty. In addition, international organizations
have expressed concern over the growing violence in the country and the
little respect for human rights shown by the Aristide government.
Attacks against opposition leaders and widespread street violence
prompted the Organization of American States (OAS) to ask the Aristide
government to correct the situation but as of mid-2003 little progress
had been achieved.